News:

"There is a terrible desperation to the increasingly pathetic rationalizations from the climate denial camp. This comes as no surprise if you take the long view; every single undone paradigm in history has died kicking and screaming, and our current petroleum paradigm 🐉🦕🦖 is no different. The trick here is trying to figure out how we all make it to the new ⚡ paradigm without dying ☠️ right along with the old one, kicking, screaming or otherwise." - William Rivers Pitt

Topic Summary

Posted by: AGelbert

According to an explosive new report in The New York Times, financial specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended that multiple companies controlled by Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner be reported to the Treasury Department on suspicion of money laundering. The transactions, which took place between 2016 and 2017 and involved Russian billionaires, were never reported because the bank's upper management prevented them from being flagged. Tammy McFadden, one of the former Deutsche Bank employees who spoke to the Times for “Deutsche Bank Staff Saw Suspicious Activity in Trump and Kushner Accounts” said that she was fired for having pushed the matter within the bank.

The Real News Network's Sharmini Peries spoke to David Cay Johnston, author of “The Making Of Donald Trump,” about Trump's finances, the potential fallout from the Times' reporting, and Trump's history with Deutsche Bank.

“Deutsche Bank is absolutely central to understanding Donald Trump,” Cay Johnston said. After Trump reorganized his finances and avoided bankruptcy court, the only bank that would lend to Trump was the corrupt and conflicted Deutsche Bank.

“Deutsche Bank has already paid over $600 million in fines for laundering money for Russian oligarchs in Cyprus, Germany, and in the United States,” Cay Johnston said. “I think from an American perspective it's perfectly reasonable to view Deutsche Bank as essentially not a bank, but a criminal enterprise.”

The Treasury Department, the main institution responsible for detecting money laundering, is responsible for looking into Trump, who, as president, oversees the Treasury. Cay Johnston explained that he hopes the Treasury will not be stopped by Trump's corruption: “We should hope that there is enough integrity in the Treasury Department, and particularly the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FCEN—which does the hunt for money laundering and is basically staffed with IRS agents—that they are not going to be stopped by the corrupt people at the head of the Trump administration.”

The only institution that can conduct an independent investigation into Trump is Congress.

“Congress absolutely must investigate this. The first hearing that's been held on Trump's efforts to stop turning over some of his records … and the judge basically made it clear that he doesn't see any reason not to turn over his tax records,” Cay Johnston said. “Later this week, there will be a hearing about the Deutsche Bank and Capital One lawsuit that Trump filed. And I suspect the same thing will happen: Judges will say these are reasonable and proper subpoenas from Congress and the banks must comply.”

Cay Johnson explained that Watergate-style hearings about Trump's finances will be most effective in exposing Trump and telling the public that “the man you saw on television in his TV shows and who Donald Trump really is are completely different human beings. Donald Trump is the third generation head of a white-collar crime family.”

“What we really need here are hearings during Watergate. What changed the views of many people who thought Richard Nixon was being railroaded was night after night of hearings describing the criminal conduct of that administration,” Cay Johnston said. “And Congress needs to stop delaying and being so polite and cautious … they need to get serious about holding hearings getting them televised and educating the American public.”

Story Transcript

SHARMINI PERIES It’s The Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore. Financial specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended that multiple companies controlled by Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be reported to the Treasury Department on suspicion of money laundering. This is according to an explosive new report in The New York Times that was published on Monday. The transactions took place in the year 2016 and 2017 and are said to have involved Russian billionaires. However, according to The New York Times sources, the flagged transactions were ultimately never reported because the bank’s upper management prevented them from doing so. One of the former Deutsche Bank employees who spoke to The New York Times said that she was fired for having pushed the matter within the bank. President Trump immediately fired off a series of tweets on the matter, saying in one of them, “The mainstream media has never been as corrupt and deranged as it is today. FAKE NEWS,” he wrote, “is actually the biggest story of all and is the true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! That’s why they refuse to cover the REAL Russia Hoax. But the American people are wise to what is going on…,” he wrote.

Joining me now to discuss these latest revelations about Trump’s finances is David Cay Johnston. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and founder of DCReport.org. He is the author of the book The Making of Donald Trump. So good to have you here, David.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Good to be here, Sharmini.

SHARMINI PERIES David, in your investigations of Trump’s financial biography, just how important is Deutsche Bank?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Deutsche Bank is absolutely central to understanding Donald Trump. In 1990, when I revealed that Trump was not a billionaire and he went around, by the way, for four months calling me a liar until he had to put in the public record documents showing I was right, so his latest tweet storm is no surprise. He had borrowings from many, many banks. He even talked Chase Bank into lending him the entire cost of Mar-a-Lago and more, but not recording the mortgage, which is illegal for Chase to not have done. After his 1990 reorganization of his finances without going to bankruptcy court, no bank would lend him money in any significant sums except Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank has already paid over $600 million in fines for laundering money for Russian oligarchs in Cyprus, in Germany, and in the United States. When I was exposing corrupt and sham tax shelters in The New York Times 20 years ago, Deutsche Bank was one of the biggest promoters of these in the United States and I think from an American perspective, it’s perfectly reasonable to view Deutsche Bank as essentially, not a bank, but a criminal enterprise.

SHARMINI PERIES Wow. That’s quite the conclusion there, David. Now, both Trump and Jared Kushner, here, made most of their money through real estate deals. It is generally known that real estate is a business that money laundering prefers to use. Now, explain to us why they use real estate as the vehicle to launder money and why these kinds of transactions are not being flagged by, say, this bank which you say is obviously corrupt, but how else can it be monitored? Who else has the opportunity to catch these transactions?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Well, let’s step back a minute and understand what money laundering is. Money laundering is taking ill-got proceeds from drug dealing, from criminal enterprises, from embezzlement, and making them appear to be legitimate money— basically, put them through a washing machine called a bank. Casinos, which Trump was in the business of, by the way, are also an excellent place to launder money. And Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino was fined $10 million for years of money laundering activities. Real estate is attractive because the records in real estate are not hooked up electronically to the kinds of records that the Securities and Exchange Commission, the IRS, and other law enforcement agencies see. In many places, these records are kept separately by county governments and it’s very easy to conceal who’s really the buyer of a piece of property.

Someone comes to you and says I want to buy this piece of property and not in my name, but the name of a company called Snow, Inc. Unless you ask, well is that a ski lodge somewhere or is that a trafficking business, you’re not going to know which it is, and, of course, Donald is never a guy to ask a question like that. So, real estate allows you to move very large amounts of money this way and appears, of course, to be a solid investment. It’s one of the reasons that we have these whole neighborhoods of essentially, expensive new and empty apartment buildings in every major city in the world that has any desirability as a place to live. San Francisco, Melbourne, Australia, Paris, Dubai, Miami Beach, New York City all have this problem of warehoused apartments that are involved often with money laundering or hiding money, in some cases, from tax authorities. Donald is someone who’s repeatedly sold property to people who turned out to be bad folks. The entire floor immediately below Trump’s apartment in Trump Tower—The entire floor was for a number of years a 24-hour-a-day gambling casino run by Russian mobsters. Donald, at the time that the FBI broke up this operation went, [gasps] what? All this gambling going on? I had no idea. I had no idea, whatsoever. If you’ve ever been inside Trump Tower and seen the elevator and the way they control security in that building, that’s absurd. If he didn’t know, it’s because he said, don’t show me, don’t show me.

Then, banking authorities have sophisticated computer systems to track and look at suspicious transactions. We had a death in our family and had to send money several times, for example, to Honduras and we got flagged over sending small amounts of money, $2,500 at a time. We had to go and explain to our banker exactly what we were doing, but Deutsche Bank is notorious for looking the other way. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Through their private banking group, which is where Donald and Jared Kushner do business, they have made a fortune by simply not asking questions for all the money they are moving. Last night, 60 Minutes had a piece about Dankse Bank’s branch in Tallinn, in Estonia, where $230 billion of money was laundered. Almost all of it were Russians— $230 billion in one tiny little branch. Nobody saw anything going on? It was like, really? We had no idea we were doing that.

SHARMINI PERIES Wow. This is not just Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, but this has the potential to crack open a whole bunch of other oligarchs involved in these schemes. Clearly now, though, as far as Washington is concerned, there is a conflict of interest between the main institution responsible for detecting money laundering, the Treasury Department, but it is now under the control and the leadership of the main suspect here, Donald Trump.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Right.

SHARMINI PERIES Presumably, Congress is the only institution that can conduct an independent investigation, but I understand that last month Trump filed a case against Deutsche Bank himself to prevent the release of the financial records. So, do you think this will go anywhere, is the question?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Well, first of all, we should hope that there is enough integrity in the Treasury Department— and particularly, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, which does the hunt for money laundering and is basically staffed with IRS agents— that they are not going to be stopped by the corrupt people at the head of the Trump administration. That’s step one. We should certainly hope that’s the case, but secondly, yes. Congress absolutely must investigate this. The first hearing that’s been held on Trump’s efforts to stop turning over some of his records involves his accounting firm, Mazars, and the judge basically made it clear that he doesn’t see any reason not to turn over his tax records.

Later this week, there will be a hearing about the Deutsche Bank and Capital One lawsuit that Trump filed, and I suspect the same thing will happen. Judges will say these are reasonable and proper subpoenas from Congress, and the banks must comply. Let’s remember, a bank is a licensed institution. It’s not like you and me. You and me, we have the right to live. A bank exists as a privilege granted by the state and the bank. In particular in this case, Deutsche Bank, has been cooperating with regulators for some time because they don’t want to lose their license. I happen to think that Deutsche Bank should be kicked out of the United States, but in the meantime, they certainly must comply and you’re not seeing the indication that they are fighting complying.

SHARMINI PERIES All right. David, so then, what are the next steps? If Congress and the investigative bodies are serious about taking some actions, what’s next?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Well, they will issue subpoenas and let’s remember what subpoena means. It comes from Latin and it means “under force.” They will issue subpoenas for documents and records not only of Deutsche Bank, but of Treasury, which will undoubtedly say no, we’re not going to show those to you, which would be an egregious violation of their duty and grounds on its face for impeachment. They will subpoena witnesses like the woman who was named and photographed in the Times story, and probably the other four current and former anti-money laundering employees at Deutsche Bank who spoke to The Times. They will then go to the other institutions because money going in and out has to go somewhere and come from somewhere, and issue further subpoenas.

What we really need here are hearings. During Watergate, what changed the views of many people who thought Richard Nixon was being railroaded, was night after night of hearings describing the criminal conduct of that administration. Congress needs to stop delaying and being so polite and cautious. I understand they’re being cautious because they’re concerned federal judges may interfere with their investigations, but they need to get serious about holding hearings, getting them televised, and educating the American public so that people understand the man you saw on television in his TV shows and who Donald Trump really is, are completely different human beings. Donald Trump is the third-generation head of a white-collar crime family. He has been involved with mobsters, of all kinds, in the New York real estate where people go, well everybody in real estate had to be involved with mobsters. Actually, the other big families, the really big developers in New York, all went to the FBI and said, you’ve got to get the mob guys out of our pockets. Donald Trump ran to the mob guys. This was back in the late 70s and early 80s.

SHARMINI PERIES I’ve been speaking with David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and the author of The Making of Donald Trump. He also writes in the DCReport.org. Check it out. Thanks so much for joining us, David.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Take care.

SHARMINI PERIES And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.

Posted by: anonymous

At this point, the moral and constitutional arguments for impeaching Donald Trump are self-evident, but with the White House actively spurning subpoenas and a long court fight in the offing, the question of how to do it becomes manifest. As it turns out, an official impeachment inquiry appears to be the easiest way to thwart White House obstructionism.

After Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin repeatedly refused to comply with requests to hand over President Trump's tax returns, the House Ways and Means Committee late Friday subpoenaed both Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig for the documents. Meanwhile, calls to jail administration officials who do not comply intensify.

Democrats Against Impeachment Invite Autocracy and a Loss in 2020😟 😨 😱

SHAHID BUTTAR, TRUTHOUT *Disclosure: The author is running to represent California’s 12th congressional district in 2020 and was Pelosi’s leading challenger from the left 👍 in the 2018 primary.

Democrats who insist that impeachment is not politically expedient are effectively giving up their responsibility to check the executive branch and emboldening Trump to commit further crimes. These are the same centrists who never saw Trump coming in the first place and appear to have forgotten that it was anti-Trump energy that fueled the Democrats' success in the 2018 midterms.

Posted by: Surly1

Posted by: AGelbert

In March, the DCCC announced its policy against progressive challengers of incumbent Dems. But the policy has been met with widespread scorn, and may be starting to backfire. Ryan Grim, Eugene Puryear, and Jacqueline Luqman discuss the situation

Posted by: AGelbert

The Mueller report keeps alive the idea that Trump campaign contacts with Russians were a threat to U.S. national security, despite finding no collusion. This continued focus on the collusion narrative plays into the hands of the powerful national security state and diverts attention from real domestic threats to democracy which stem from the Trump administration's anti-democratic policies and the dysfunctional U.S. political system.

Posted by: AGelbert

Comprehensive reputational defenestration is hardly a new phenomenon in the Trump White House. That being said, it is a remarkable thing to watch someone in Attorney General William Barr's lofty position immolate the last tattered shreds of their dignity on live television. He did his job as he understands it, and the people who occupy his atmosphere raised toasts to him when he was done.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers

#MoreFromThom#ThomAndBernieSanders

✔ Amazon links are affiliate linksCategoryNews & Politics

Posted by: AGelbert

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) echoed Van Hollen’s call for a new attorney general on Tuesday, in light of Barr’s behavior. “I think that Barr should resign. If he does not resign, he should be facing impeachment proceedings also. He has abdicated on his responsibility. He’s lied,” she told MSNBC.

Posted by: AGelbert

"The idea that we can just reintroduce 2009 policies is not reflective of action that is necessary for now in the world of today," said Ocasio-Cortez. She added that "there is no harm in passing" Pelosi's bill, but ultimately, the GND is what's needed.

Posted by: AGelbert

Last week, Cleveland.com reported that one of the reasons an Ohio lawmaker supports a bill that would give hundreds of millions of dollars to two nuclear power plants is because it also cuts subsidies that help working class communities pay for energy-efficiency upgrades. Because that, apparently, is a good thing.

“We are already paying for food, heating assistance, cell phones, child support” and other apparently frivolous luxuries, Rep Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) wrote in an email to another lawmaker, but we shouldn’t because “a little hunger in the belly or being a little cold on some really cold days is a good incentive. ”

Yes, according to Vitale, without that hunger or suffering, “what incentive is there for me to ever change and cover my own expenses?”

The Ohio bill, introduced by two Republicans, creates a new clean air program as an alternative to the state’s existing renewable portfolio standard. But, according to Cleveland.com’s reporting, “at least half” of the $300 million per year the bill would raise from a surcharge on electricity bills “is expected to go toward two northern Ohio 😈 nuclear power plants, Davis-Besse and Perry, that owner 👹 FirstEnergy Solutions plans to soon close unless it can get subsidies.”

If passed, that money will come just in time for FirstEnergy. The company has been aggressively seeking ways to save itself from bankruptcy, including through a now-hopefully-dead federal bailout for coal and nuclear power plants. As InsideClimate News reported in March, FirstEnergy appears to have shifted to a state-based approach, as it poured money into Ohio to try and save its two nuclear plants in the state.

And that’s not the only place where it’s focused. The Energy and Policy Institute recently dug through FirstEnergy’s bankruptcy documents and found that the company also spent millions on lobbying and public relations in Pennsylvania. Of the nearly $36 million that First Energy owes lobbyists Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, over a million is for lobbying work to find “a policy solution… that would enable the continued operation” of its nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

One wonders why First Energy spent millions of dollars on public relations and lobbying to save its dying nuclear plants when it could have been profiting off of existing subsidies for renewables instead of trying to fight them.

And, of course, there’s the question of why Rep Vitale thinks families should be cold and hungry, but FirstEnergy shouldn’t.

After all, “what incentive is there for [FirstEnergy] to to ever change” and survive in the free market where renewables are winning on price, if it doesn't have “a little hunger in the belly?”

Posted by: AGelbert

The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded andwe ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ” (Benjamin Franklin)

“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“If you would not be forgottenAs soon as you are dead and rotten,Either write things worthy reading,Or do things worth the writing.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance [as the framing of the Constitution] ... should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and move and have their being.” (Benjamin Franklin)

“I think with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are in my opinion, the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms.” (Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Samuel Johnson, August 23, 1750.)

“…there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered.” (Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention September 17, 1787.)

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” (Benjamin Franklin, his motto. This was part of the original proposal for the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States, which depicted the children of Israel being lead by a pillar of fire and Pharaoh's army drowning in the red sea. Instead today we have the familiar pyramid , and all-seeing eye.)

“The refusal of King George to allow the colonies to operate an honest money system, which freed the ordinary man from clutches of the money manipulators was probably the prime cause of the revolution.” (Benjamin Franklin)

Posted by: AGelbert

Agelbert NOTE: Thom provides a long list of in-our-faces illegal actions by Trump, evidencing how destructive Trump is, but cannot seem to bring himself to accept that the Trump Dictatorial Autocrat will do WHATEVER to stay in power. Trump has NO INTENTION of leaving office.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers

Posted by: AGelbert

The 2020 Census will include a question that Greg Palast wants every American to skip as a protest against Kris Kobach's policies against voting rights and migrants in the county.

Kobach and Donald Trump have been working to add a question about whether or not someone is a citizen to the 2020 Census and it looks like they have got their way. Will those who mark no on that question be visited by ICE or local police or will Kris Kobach and the Republicans use this as a way to purge more voters?

Could every American leaving this question blank save the lives the migrants the vote and our country?

The White House has instructed Carl Kline not to testify before Congress. He’s the guy who supervised getting a security clearance, over the objection of the intelligence agencies, for Jared Kushner.

Similarly, Steve Mnuchin has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to defy the law and not give Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. These are all simple and straightforward violations of the law and naked attempts to obstruct justice; this is the behavior of an authoritarian dictator, a person who doesn’t believe in our Constitution or even the simple concepts of democracy.

Elected officials should not tolerate this behavior and prosecute Trump and his co-conspirators to the fullest extent of the law, including impeachment where appropriate.

After a fire burned the historical Notre Dame building to the ground, billionaires donated millions overnight to it's restoration. In Response, France's Yellow Vest Movement is protesting against these billionaires and the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral, believing that the money should go to the people and that the billionaires ability to donate so much so fast was an example of the income inequality that produced this movement from the start.

Cole Stangler joins the program to discuss what why the Yellow Vest ares protesting over Billionaire donations toward Notre Dame.

Some are saying that a censure resolution would be more effective than an impeachment hearing in fear that unsuccessfully impeaching Donald Trump would lead to his victory in the upcoming 2020 elections.

The key is not whether or not impeachment can succeed in the house, but whether or not it can wake up the American people to the crimes of Donald Trump. And impeachment has that kind of ability.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers

#MoreFromThom#ThomAndJustinFrank

✔ Amazon links are affiliate linksCategoryNews & Politics

Posted by: AGelbert

"The best indication of who you should vote for in the Democratic Primary if you actually want progressive policy is who Wall Street doesn't like, which essentially means Bernie or Warren," concluded journalist Josh Mound.

"It Can't Be Warren and It Can't Be Sanders": Wall Street Executives Make 2020 Preferences Known

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) greet one another on stage at a rally in Boston in April, 2017. (Photo: Steven Senne/AP)

The first 2020 Democratic presidential primary is still over a year away, but Wall Street executives are reportedly already freaking out about two likely progressive candidates: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"It can't be Warren and it can't be Sanders," the CEO of a "giant bank" anonymously told Politico, which reported on Monday that Wall Street executives are "getting panicked" about the presidential prospects of the Senate's two fiercest financial sector critics.

"The best indication of who you should vote for in the Democratic primary if you actually want progressive policy is who Wall Street doesn't like, which essentially means Bernie or Warren." —Josh Mound, journalist

Warren launched an exploratory committee for president last month, vowing to take on the "corruption" that is "poisoning our democracy." Sanders, for his part, has yet to publicly announce a bid for the White House—but Yahoo Newsreportedon Friday that the Vermont senator plans to launch his campaign "imminently."

"Bankers' biggest fear," Politico reported, is that the 2020 Democratic presidential "nomination goes to an anti-Wall Street crusader" like Warren or Sanders.

"The result is a kind of nervous paralysis of executives pining for a centrist nominee like Michael Bloomberg," Politico noted, referring to the billionaire former New York City mayor, who is reportedly considering a self-funded presidential bid.

According to Politico, Wall Street executives who want Trump out of the White House mentioned "a consistent roster of appealing nominees" they would find acceptable outside of Bloomberg, who the outlet describes as Wall Street's "platonic ideal."

As CNBCreported earlier this month, Harris, Booker, and Gillibrand have all reached out to Wall Street to gauge support for 2020 campaigns. Harris announced that she is running for president last week, and Gillibrand launched an exploratory committee for president earlier this month.

One executive—who Politico described as a hedge fund manager and a top Democratic donor—declared, "If it's Biden and Beto or Biden and Harris, that might make a difference. The good news for Biden is everyone likes him. The bad news is there is not a lot of passion."

Progressives were quick to argue on Twitter that Wall Street's fear of a possible Sanders or Warren presidency constitutes a powerful endorsement of both candidates.

By coming out so strongly against the progressive senators, arguedThe Daily Beast's Gideon Resnick, Wall Street is "literally giving them a campaign slogan."

In response to Wall Street's largely anonymous attacks on Sanders and Warren, People for Bernie tweeted, "We bathe in your tears."

"The best indication of who you should vote for in the Democratic Primary if you actually want progressive policy is who Wall Street doesn't like, which essentially means Bernie or Warren," concluded journalist Josh Mound.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Posted by: AGelbert

Attorney General William Barr finally released Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, though it remains heavily redacted.

The report consists of two volumes, the first of which deals with Russian interference. The second deals with whether Donald Trump obstructed justice in relation to the Russian interference investigation.

In the course of the investigation Mueller made 14 prosecution referrals, two of which have been acted upon: one against Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen,and one against Gregory Craig, who was a lawyer in the Obama White House. Mueller made no recommendation for prosecution of Trump himself.

The Real News Network's Greg Wilpert spoke to Gerald Horne and Kamau Franklin about Trump’s possible obstruction of justice and Russian interference in a two-part panel on the Mueller report.

Horne explained to Wilpert that in terms of the “big picture,” the origins of this investigation relate to the “battle royale within the U.S. elite as to how to maintain U.S. imperialist hegemony.” As for Russian interference, echoing commentary made before on RNN, Horne stressed that the U.S. regularly interferes with other countries’ elections.

“Washington has made a habit of interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states all across the globe,” Horne said. “Right now, it's seeking to destabilize Venezuela. It's heightening tensions with Cuba.”

Franklin called the report “much ado about nothing” in terms of its long term effects on Trump's presidency.

“I don't think that there's going to be enough evidence like Watergate where the president is going to be impeached and/or later once he’s out of office charged with a felony,” Franklin said.

He added that the continuing focus on the Mueller report speaks to the Democratic party's ongoing refusal to self-reflect about its own failures during the election.

Posted by: AGelbert

The Mueller report details the parallel and often cooperative course traveled by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the sophisticated Russian operation devoted to his victory. Mueller's report also lays out the myriad ways Trump obstructed justice through his ham-fisted attempts to either take over the investigation or obliterate it entirely. Impeachment is the only appropriate remedy.

Posted by: AGelbert

Donald Trump has been hurting America since he announced his run for president, by ramping up anti-immigrant sentiment and spreading dangerous rumors of migrants who arrive through our southern border.

Since then, he has tried to ban Muslim people from the country, increased tensions with other countries. He helped Saudi Arabia's campaign against the people of Yemen, removing any chance of peace in Israel/Palestine and sucks up to Dictators and autocrats, grows the Alt-Right, and come after Black Lives Matter & Anti- Fascists, and much much more.

But which of these is the worst thing that Trump has done? Watch what Thom has to say.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers

Posted by: AGelbert

In Khanna’s words, “You can’t oppose endless wars and then vote to fund them.” Jayapal said: “We need to prioritize our communities, not our military spending. Progressives aren’t backing down from this fight.”

The New York Times described the intra-party disagreement as “an ideological gap between upstart progressives flexing their muscles and more moderate members clinging to their Republican-leaning seats.” But that description bypassed how the most powerful commitment to escalation of military spending comes from Democratic leaders representing deep blue districts — in Pelosi’s case, San Francisco. Merely backing a budget that’s not as bad as Trump’s offering is a craven and immoral approach.

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ staff director, Warren Gunnels, responded cogently days ago when he tweeted: “How can we keep giving more money to the Pentagon than it needs when 40 million live in poverty, 34 million have no health insurance, half of older Americans have no retirement savings, and 140 million can’t afford basic needs without going into debt? This is insanity.”

Posted by: AGelbert

Agelbert NOTE: Go to 11:50 to hear Ray McGovern expose Mueller as a liar, a crook AND, most significantly, that Mueller, as stated by his own words, is PROUD of the FASCIST POWER the FBI was OFFICIALLY given AFTER 911.

Talk by Ray McGovern, 27-Year Veteran of the CIA and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, on "Russia-gate: Can You Handle the Truth?" recorded August 4, 2018 at the Common Good Cafe, University Temple United Methodist Church, Seattle.

Category News & Politics

License Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Mueller and Bush after 911

Mueller, FBI head during and after 911, is known as the "clean up man" by the Republican Party.

MARC STEINER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Marc Steiner. Great to have you all with us for our weekly look at the news. In this segment, we are going to tackle what’s happening to progressive politicians in this country. The Right is threatening people with death in some of their tweets and more against several Congresswomen, especially women of color in Congress, which we’ll talk about. But the story that is not being told a lot is about the D.C.C.C., the Democratic campaign committee, that says it is trying to stop progressive politicians from challenging established politicians in primaries. What’s that all about? Well, we’re here once again with Jeff Cohen who is co-founder of RootsAction.org, founder of the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media, and Jacqueline Luqman who is Editor-in-Chief of Luqman Nation and a regular contributor to The Real News. Let’s just jump into this right away. In this piece here that we have, they have a form from the D.C.C.C. that came out that you have to sign if you are going to do any kind of work with the D.C.C.C. or any candidates. In one segment it says and they have to sign this, “I understand the above statement that the D.C.C.C. will not conduct business with nor recommend to any of its targeted campaigns, any consultant that works with an opponent of a sitting member of the House Democratic Caucus. And that’s what they have to sign, threatening vendors and threatening people who are consultants, and more. Jeff Cohen, you’re smiling so go ahead.

JEFF COHEN: This is this is so offensive. Some of the exciting members of Congress, they got in there by challenging incumbents. A.O.C. challenged an incumbent in New York, Ayanna Pressley challenged an incumbent in Massachusetts, Ro Khanna, who’s a great progressive in his second term, he challenged an incumbent. So you have Cheri Bustos, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, telling consultants if they work with these challengers, they won’t be punished, they will be blacklisted. And what’s interesting is Cheri Bustos of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee 👹💵🎩 (the D.C.C.C)Shedoesn’t tell consultants, “hey, if you work for the pharmaceutical industry, we won’t give you business. If you work for the oil or coal industries, we won’t give you business. It’s just if you work for aprogressive challenger, you won’t get business from the Democratic leadership”. It’s stunning and it’s revealing.

MARC STEINER: So let’s talk about the stunning and revealing issue around this and what this really means. Jacqueline, I’ll start with you and then come back to Jeff here. So what is the dynamic going on here? We understand the corporate control of the party and what happened in the last election in shutting down progressives and shutting down Bernie Sanders during the 2016 election, but Progressives have taken a huge foothold in Democratic Party politics now and they’re pushing hard. So let’s talk about what the two of you think of the internal dynamics and what’s going on here.

JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Well the internal dynamics are that the D.C.C.C. does not want to relinquish power to a bunch of upstart Progressives. That’s really what this is all about. They don’t want to lose the corporate lobbyist money that come in from these incumbent candidates who not all of them, not all of them, but many, too many incumbent House Democrats are very friendly to very large corporate interests. And we know by now– if we don’t, we should– that corporate interests often run counter to the interests of the people. So what’s shocking about this is that the D.C.C.C is trying to keep power in the House. They’re trying to maintain power. They’re also trying to maintain the corporate money flow coming. Not all incumbent House members are aligned with big money corporate interests, but too many are. And if we haven’t learned by now, corporate interests usually run counter to the interest of the people. So what this really means, why this is so shocking to me, is that the D.C.C.C is limiting the exposure for voters of candidates who might be better, who they might like more than the incumbent candidates, who they feel aren’t doing enough for them and certainly aren’t supporting progressive policies. That’s why this is shocking to me, because it looks like the D.C.C.C is limiting the choice of voters.

MARC STEINER: And why do you think, Jeff, they feel a threat?

JEFF COHEN: Because Progressives, especially these young women of color in Congress, are raising hell, becoming popular, have huge social media followings. But I believe it’s important to point out that the Justice Democrats, the Progressives, have just put out an e-mail where they said that the D.C.C.C. in the first quarter of 2019, raised $400,000 or more from corporate lobbyists and bundlers. Jacqueline made an important point. Ninety percent of the Democratic districts are true blue. They’re uncontested; they will always be Democratic. You could run a blue dog in November and the Democrats would win. So if constituents don’t have an opportunity to choose between two candidates in the primary, they have no role in Congressional elections. So it really does shut out the voters and that’s the goal of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party. They are afraid of the voters.

MARC STEINER: So what do you both think this means in terms of the power of the Progressive Movement and where it’s going? There are a lot of Progressives who lost in these primaries, who fought very hard campaigns but lost. A number of them won. You’re seeing a battle take place in the State Senate in New York right now around Cuomo saying he was really upset with people who were running in these primary challenges and want you to oppose them, battles taking place in their Caucus, so this is falling down to the states, as well. Something’s afoot here and I want Jeff really quickly to give your analysis. What do you think is afoot politically, Jeff?

JEFF COHEN: I think that the Progressives are showing that they don’t need the corporate money, that they can get online small donations from lots of donors, and that scares the hell out of the leadership of the Democratic Party, which has relied so heavily on corporate donors. There’s a civil war going on in the Democratic Party and the progressive candidates and politicians are with the base. And the corporate Democrats are increasingly isolated and fearful.

MARC STEINER: Well we’ll stay on top of this story. I think it’s a really important story and look forward to interviewing a lot of people who are involved in the progressive politics in this country to really get into this, to understand the depth of this, and where this can be taking us. We’re here with Jacqueline Luqman and Jeff Cohen. In our next segment, we are going to take a look at the power Steven Miller, the rise of nationalist power inside the Trump administration, and what that means. I’m Marc Steiner here for The Real News Network. Don’t miss the next segment.

Posted by: AGelbert

Those who cling to the idea of ornamental baby-making women existing in silence to please and flatter men are proving the point from the old saying: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." They are well into the fighting portion of the process regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I have no doubt, however, that AOC will emerge the winner in the end.